Best Apo Scope under 800$

[Currently_existing09092010]

Heyyo everyone! I am not so new to astronomy and astrophotography. i currently have a 200/1000 mm skywatcher scope, a motorised eq-5 and a zwo 224 MC color. I noticed that the 1000 mm is a bit too big for the zwo 224 and i would like to change not only to a smaller focal length but also an apo scope  because of chromatic aberation and all that. my budget is about 600$ but can go to around 800$ if i wait a bit.

 

I searched on Astroshop and i found these: 

Apochromatic refractor AP 72/420 EvoStar 72 ED DS Pro OTA

Apochromatic refractor AP 80/600 EvoStar ED OTA

Apochromatic refractor AP 62/400 Evolux-62ED OTA

 

I asked Chatgpt and it told me about these:

Orion ED80T CF Triplet Apochromatic Refractor

Astro-Tech AT72EDII ED Doublet Refractor

William Optics ZenithStar 61 APO Refractor

Explore Scientific ED80 Essential Series Triplet Refractor

 

Now i don't know how good these are because i've never had an apo scope and i don't know what stats i should look for.so i am asking for your help to tell me which one is the best out of all these, or tell me a better variant.

                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Thank you in advance, George

[Elp]

Hold onto your horses.

What do you plan on imaging first?

[Currently_existing09092010]

most planets and a couple low magnitude DSOs like orion nebula or andromeda galaxyy

[Elp]

Generally you need two different setups for that. Planets you can do with the Newtonian. For DSO you need good tracking, how good does your mount track?

You'll also need a different camera, the 224 is a small sensor and not really suited to DSO imaging because it amp glows quite bad also due to the sensor size, I've tried it. Some people have done DSO with it on small targets but it's not easy.

If you've got a camera body at hand with a decent lens around 50mm-100mm you can image the above DSOs quite well, and I wouldn't consider them low magnitude, they're bright enough to capture in 5-10s exposures.

Edited July 15 by Elp

[Elp]

Out of that list Ive got the Z61, it's excellent but nowadays I do wish for a triplet as they're better corrected than a doublet, but if you're just starting I'd doubt you'd even notice the difference.

You'd have to do some research into what targets you want to image and what camera+optics you'll like to pair them with, the Telescopius website (telescope simulator) is good for this.

Then you need to advise if your mount is up to the task, and what level of quality you want, most serious imagers autoguide rather than rely on a mounts mechanical only sidereal tracking.

[Louis D]

Welcome to SGL.  My daughter once interned with Tenaris just up the road from you in Zalau.  She absolutely loved Romania.  Her and her intern buddies were in Cluj-Napoca quite often over that summer.

[Bivanus]

Hello from Constanta 😊 Have a look at this too: Teleskop-Express: TS-Optics 80 mm f/5.6 FPL53 Apo with corrector for astrophotography - BUNDLE-TSAPO805-Foto 

It's a compact 80mm F/7 scope with FPL53 / Lanthanum doublet bundled with a 0.8x reducer and corrector for AP .  It's one of my scopes and I am really pleased with it even on visual - just had a great session in Poiana Brasov and boy did it delivered ! At 749 EUR it's  just shy of 800 $  but I think the bundle value makes it worth. You can find it also un bundled at 699 EUR - that would be some 760 $ 

My tube I've got second hand from Romania , but my larger OTA I've ordered from them directly and I had a decent experience with delivery - tracked , rather speedy , double boxed. 

EDIT: It's this one on Astromagazin.ro , they wrongly written the title as 80/540 but in the description is given the correct 80/560  size  Telescop TS-Optics PHOTOLINE 80/540 FPL53 Doublet Apo, focuser cremaliera, OTA (astromagazin.ro)

Edited July 16 by Bivanus

[Currently_existing09092010]

Hey, Elp! Thanks for the suggestions! I have one more question though. what camera is best for autoguider?

Edited July 16 by Currently_existing09092010

[Currently_existing09092010]

7 hours ago, Louis D said:

Welcome to SGL.  My daughter once interned with Tenaris just up the road from you in Zalau.  She absolutely loved Romania.  Her and her intern buddies were in Cluj-Napoca quite often over that summer.

Glad to hear she liked it!

[Currently_existing09092010]

5 hours ago, Bivanus said:

Hello from Constanta 😊 Have a look at this too: Teleskop-Express: TS-Optics 80 mm f/5.6 FPL53 Apo with corrector for astrophotography - BUNDLE-TSAPO805-Foto 

It's a compact 80mm F/7 scope with FPL53 / Lanthanum doublet bundled with a 0.8x reducer and corrector for AP .  It's one of my scopes and I am really pleased with it even on visual - just had a great session in Poiana Brasov and boy did it delivered ! At 749 EUR it's  just shy of 800 $  but I think the bundle value makes it worth. You can find it also un bundled at 699 EUR - that would be some 760 $ 

My tube I've got second hand from Romania , but my larger OTA I've ordered from them directly and I had a decent experience with delivery - tracked , rather speedy , double boxed. 

EDIT: It's this one on Astromagazin.ro , they wrongly written the title as 80/540 but in the description is given the correct 80/560  size  Telescop TS-Optics PHOTOLINE 80/540 FPL53 Doublet Apo, focuser cremaliera, OTA (astromagazin.ro)

Hey, Bivanus! thanks for the suggestions! I will look into them!

[Elp]

24 minutes ago, Currently_existing09092010 said:

Hey, Elp! Thanks for the suggestions! I have one more question though. what camera is best for autoguider?

Mono are best but you can use your 224 with a 30mm guidescope for autoguiding for a short FL imaging setup, I do it.

[Currently_existing09092010]

13 hours ago, Elp said:

Generally you need two different setups for that. Planets you can do with the Newtonian. For DSO you need good tracking, how good does your mount track?

You'll also need a different camera, the 224 is a small sensor and not really suited to DSO imaging because it amp glows quite bad also due to the sensor size, I've tried it. Some people have done DSO with it on small targets but it's not easy.

If you've got a camera body at hand with a decent lens around 50mm-100mm you can image the above DSOs quite well, and I wouldn't consider them low magnitude, they're bright enough to capture in 5-10s exposures.

 

5 minutes ago, Elp said:

Mono are best but you can use your 224 with a 30mm guidescope for autoguiding for a short FL imaging setup, I do it.

So then i buy a DSLR for imaging?

[Elp]

Depends on your budget. In this day and age it'd be better to get an astro camera as they're more sensitive and create less noise, even less noise if they're cooled.

You have to decide on camera based on your targets and scope and how they frame up, then your budget and how you're going to go about controlling it all.

[Currently_existing09092010]

7 minutes ago, Elp said:

Depends on your budget. In this day and age it'd be better to get an astro camera as they're more sensitive and create less noise, even less noise if they're cooled.

You have to decide on camera based on your targets and scope and how they frame up, then your budget and how you're going to go about controlling it all.

Gotcha! Thanks!

Edited July 16 by Currently_existing09092010

[Elp]

Also check if your mount can be autoguided if it's a basic version without goto, otherwise you'll have to just use it as is.

[Currently_existing09092010]

5 hours ago, Elp said:

Also check if your mount can be autoguided if it's a basic version without goto, otherwise you'll have to just use it as is.

Crap, i have GoTo

[Currently_existing09092010]

6 hours ago, Elp said:

Also check if your mount can be autoguided if it's a basic version without goto, otherwise you'll have to just use it as is.

Crap, i have GoTo

[Elp]

Goto is fine then for autoguiding. But instead of spending, try the mount as is with shorter FL optics, in fact you can try with your existing scope to see how well the tracking is, you can even use the 224 to take continuos exposures to see how well the tracking goes. All without spending any more money for now.

Uploading the JPGs here of individual images and people can diagnose any potential issues.

[Currently_existing09092010]

41 minutes ago, Elp said:

Goto is fine then for autoguiding. But instead of spending, try the mount as is with shorter FL optics, in fact you can try with your existing scope to see how well the tracking is, you can even use the 224 to take continuos exposures to see how well the tracking goes. All without spending any more money for now.

Uploading the JPGs here of individual images and people can diagnose any potential issues.

I would, but today, from my skies, you cant see any planet or bright enough DSOs. best i could do is try to capture the North American Nebula or M57. although the moon is visible. is that ok?

Edited July 16 by Currently_existing09092010

[Elp]

Globular clusters typically resolve in a single 10-30s image. Imaging colour whilst the moon is out isn't desirable but for the purposes of testing you just want to see what the stars will look like when the mount is tracking by itself. Also try testing in different areas of the sky.

You need to make sure the mount is fairly well polar aligned before doing any imaging tests otherwise you'll see star drift/elongation straight away.

Edited July 16 by Elp